April Fool's Day
by medelia
Summary: It's the middle of the first war. In one night, Molly Weasley lost two of the most important people in her life... but gained far more than she ever expected.
1. House of Cards

_**April Fool's Day** - by Medelia_

**Disclaimer:** If I owned it, I wouldn't need a line at the top beginning with "Disclaimer".

**Summary: **It's the middle of the first war. In one day, Molly Weasley lost two of the most important people in her life... but gained more than she ever expected.

* * *

Chapter One: _House of Cards_

_March 31st_

"Charlie! Bill! Leave poor Percy alone, or I'll make you de-gnome the garden! And come inside, it's getting dark."

A crying Percy was clinging to his mother's leg. She would've liked to pick him up and give him a cuddle, but she doubted she could reach him over her huge belly. Eight and a half months pregnant, and bigger than she'd been with Bill at nine and a half months - Bill had been a few weeks late - she was beginning to feel the strain, and her older boys weren't helping in the slightest. Sitting down on a wooden chair, which gave an ominous creak as her weight fell upon it, she pulled the sniffing Percy onto what little was left of her lap, and gave him a hug until he stopped crying.

As usual, when it got to about this time of evening, the worry began to set in. Arthur's hand on the clock still pointed steadfastly to "Work", despite the fact he should've been home half an hour ago. Though she tried not to look at it too often, out of the corner of her eye it always seemed that the longest hand had moved to "Mortal Peril". Then again, maybe that was just her eyes.

Tearing them away from the darned clock, she gave her youngest -_ though not for not much longer_, she thought - a last cuddle and let him scurry up the stairs to his room. Heaving herself up - the chairgave another warning creak - she went outside, where five year old Charlie and seven year old Bill were playing on their toy broomsticks in the fast-fading light, their toes lightly brushing the tips of the slightly-overgrown grass. Charlie was swerving around Bill, as fast as the toy would go, showing considerable skill as he avoided his elder brother easily and grabbed the ball they were throwing around. Bill grumbled and tried valiantly to keep up with his younger brother, but he lacked the ability to catch Charlie on a broom, and soon gave up. It was little wonder Charlie always wanted to play on the broomsticks; it was the only way the younger, stockier boy could ever keep up with the older, taller Bill.

Hopping off the broomstick and wandering over to his mother, the older boy called, "Mum, what's for dinner?"

It was at this point, though, that Charlie sped between them, looped Molly and stopped smartly before them, grinning.

"When's Dad back?"

"I don't know, Charlie," she said wearily, trying not to let the worry show too much in her voice. "You should come inside now, it's not sa-" she stopped quickly. "It's getting dark, you'll catch you're deaths out here,"

"But it's not cold, it's not even that dark," Bill complained. He was right, of course; the mid-spring evening was rather warm and, although the sun had set, the twilight cast a deep, purplish glow that might've been pretty if it didn't suddenly seem so deathly to Molly.

"Come on, inside, quick!" she said tightly, as irrational fear clamped on her heart. Complaining all the way, the boys were ushered inside the kitchen, where Molly locked and, several times as she cooked dinner, checked that she had locked, the door.

The funny feeling as if something bad was happening refused to leave her, and, as the time ticked past six o'clock, she sat wringing her hands on the creaking chair at the kitchen table, trying fruitlessly to occupy herself. First with cooking dinner - which ended up frightfully burnt - to serving dinner - her shaking hands made Bill's stew end up on Charlie's lap - to supervising her sons while they ate - Percy got a faceful when his brothers decided to start a one-sided food fight - to washing the dishes - she broke Arthur's favorite glass - to knitting - after she dropped five stitches, she decided it was pointless - and eventually to sitting, her head resting on her left hand, her right rubbing her belly where the baby had kicked her hard up the ribs a moment before. Her eyes were fixed on Arthur's hand of the clock, as she listened to the far-off sounds of Bill, Charlie and Percy playing Exploding Snap in Bill's room; their cries of "Snap", arguments over who'd gotten their hand down first, and periodical explosions reaching her ears.

At long last, just as she was beginning to dismiss the awful fear that had gripped her, Arthur's hand moved briefly to "Traveling", before slowly gliding on toward "Home". Relief flooded through Molly, and she looked towards the dying fire, which didn't turn large and green. She whipped back around to the clock, and, to her horror, she realized relief had come too soon.

_The hand didn't stop at Home._

It glided past the collection of four hands that were on Home, and came to rest on the position Molly dreaded and feared most.

_Mortal Peril._

Molly's heart stopped. _Arthur!_ She wanted to scream, but she couldn't scare the boys, the three innocent young children who barely knew there was a war. She was trying not to think of what was happening to Arthur. An attack on the Ministry itself? Surely You-Know-Who was not that powerful? Then why was Arthur in such danger? Were they that low on Aurors? She knew he'd been pulled off his regular job to help with the war, but not to fight in it! _But _w_hy else would he be in danger,_ her mind screamed.

Trying to calm herself, she listened for the vaguely comforting sound of the boys playing upstairs.

They were silent.

She had long ago learned that, when they were making no noise, they were up to no good. In her current state, her mind jumped right past "Mischief" and landed on "Danger". Lurching to her feet, ignoring her protesting sore ankles, she half-ran up the narrow stairway and threw open Bill's door.

The three boys were crouched, silent as mice, as though terrified, behind a huge, nearly complete card castle of slightly singed cards - Exploding Snap cards. In Bill's outstretched hands were the last two cards, the two that made the triangular formation complete. Then she realized. It was not terror that gripped their faces - it was tension.

Bill slowly moved the cards towards the top of the castle, hands shaking slightly, eyes narrowed in concentration. Percy and Charlie's eyes were wide, pleading her not to move or speak, lest she disturb the fragile balance of the cards.

_It's like this little family. The fragile force that holds us together. Arthur's in danger. Arthur's the base, the bit that makes us stand up. There's no two ways about it. It'll be complete, it'll be safe, and_ he'll_ be safe, at least for now. Or the hands above us, fate above us, will tremble too much for us to stand. The base will falter, it will fall, and, as it tumbles, the rest will fall with it. _

With a choking sob, Molly burst into tears. Bills hands, a fraction of an inch away from placing the cards, jumped back, scandalized.

"Mum!" he cried, and the cards fell, triggering the small explosions they were known for.

"Bill!" she screamed. "Charlie! Percy!"

They stared at her as though she had sprouted a second head.

Undaunted and with her nerves at breaking point, she gathered the boys to her and hugged them tightly. Then, standing, she dragged them, too, to their feet and shepherded them downstairs.

"Why're you crying, Mum?" Bill asked, absentmindedly rubbing his singed eyebrows. Percy was still sniffling about the cards, too young to understand.

When they reached the kitchen, Molly mopped her face as surreptitiously as possible on a tea towel and made the boys a hot chocolate. She wanted - needed - them close by at the moment.

They'd only been there a few minutes when the clock's longest hand moved to "Traveling", and then "Work" and Molly, feeling utterly overwhelmed, hugged the nearest boy - an unfortunate Percy - very tightly.

The hand stopped for five minutes or so on "Work", before returning to "Traveling" and, at long last, with a crackle of green flames and a whoosh, Arthur stepped out of the fireplace as his hand juddered to a halt at "Home".

"Arthur!" she cried tearfully, getting up awkwardly and launching herself at her husband, tears pouring down her face again, and in her desperate relief, she failed to notice the worn, sad look in Arthur's eyes.


	2. Family

_**April Fool's Day** by Medelia_

**Disclaimer:** If I owned it, I wound need a line at the top beginning with "Disclaimer".

**Summary: **It's the middle of the first war. In one day, Molly Weasley lost two of the most important people in her life... but gained more than she ever expected.

Chapter Two: _Family_

"Arthur!" she cried tearfully, getting up awkwardly and launching herself at her husband, tears pouring down her face again, and in her desperate relief, she failed to notice the worn, sad look in Arthur's eyes.

Arthur hugged her back, totally unsure of the reason for her outburst – _how could she already know?_ – but thankful for it all the same.

"What're the boys doing up?" he asked when they finally drew apart. She looked up at him sheepishly.

"I - your – the clock said – I didn't know what to think, Arthur, I just didn't know…"

He patted her reassuringly on the back. "The clock…"

"Mortal Peril, Arthur!" she cried, stepping away furiously, stress combining with pregnancy hormones. "What happened, where were you, what were you doing?"

"Ah. Moll… it's a long story. Get the boys off to bed," he said quietly.

She sniffed back the last of her tears. "Your dinner is in the oven. You must be starving. I'll get this lot to bed – look at the time!"

It took half an hour of complaining and bickering before the three boys were tucked up in bed and quiet. It was only then that Molly lumbered down the stairs to where her husband sat, staring dejectedly into the flicking fire, and jumping when the last stair creaked, as if to announce her presence.

"Please, Arthur, tell me what's been going on. Something has, I know it."

Arthur bit his lip. His brown eyes locked with her hazel ones, his worn and sad, hers bright with unshed tears of worry. She'd never seen him like this before, and it all but broke her heart.

He got up slowly and they went into the sitting room, she taking up most of the room on the old, creaky couch they sat in together. He found her hand and squeezed it reassuringly, but didn't meet her eyes as he began to speak.

"A- A few months ago, I asked a favour of Mad-Eye Moody… asked him to let me know, ASAP, of any trouble here - anything to do with my family. Attacks, that kind of thing. The kind of stuff the Aurors pick up on."

"You think we're going to be attacked?" Molly whispered, looking nervously behind her and out the window.

"It's better to be safe than sorry. Anyway, this evening… I got a message telling me to come straight to his office. He told me they'd picked up on something he thought I'd better know about. I- I thought he meant you lot-" He broke off, looking wretched at the memory. Molly squeezed his hand tighter.

"He was getting a team of Aurors ready to go over. Said he thought the attack was over, and they were going over to- to look for survivors. But it was obvious they weren't hopeful… seeing as it was family, he'd let me go with them. Went by Portkey in case there were Anti-App wards up… I didn't know until I got there… it wasn't here. I've never been so relieved… then I realized whose house it was…"

He looked up at her, his eyes full of regret.

"Mol… It was Gid and Fab's place."

_Mol… It was Gid and Fab's place. Gid and Fab's place. Gid and Fab…_

Molly shivered and started to cry again, and Arthur leaned in and held her in his arms. She sobbed into his shoulder until she ran out of tears, and then looked up at him with bloodshot eyes.

"So… they were already… when you got there, they were…" she stammered, wiping her eyes.

"When we got there," Arthur continued slowly, "we thought it was… over. The house was dark… everything was dark, except for the Mark in the sky."

Molly gave an involuntary shiver and moved closer to her husband.

"We arrived at the bottom of the garden, in amongst the bushes, so we were looking up at the house and we thought we saw something move inside, but no-one could see well enough to really tell… and then it just started up again… flashes and bangs and yells… by the time we got up there, Fabian was already… and Gideon was standing over him, giving twice as much as he got… We burst in… took them by surprise, took a few down… but it didn't last long… they had their orders, I suppose… and they were outnumbered. One of them got Gideon… and it was all over. They just left, didn't stop to see if they could take us too… just left, just like that…" he trailed off, looking lost for a moment.

"Merlin, Molly, I'm sorry," he muttered, pulling her closer. She was pale and shivering, sitting dejectedly on the couch, her arms wrapped around her swollen belly. Beyond crying now, her face was tight.

She shook her head, seeming to come out of a reverie as she looked at him, her hazel eyes swimming with tears, worry and loss.

"Arthur," she said, her voice wrought with pain but softer and calmer than he had expected, and her words far and away the last thing he had anticipated. "Arthur, the baby's coming. Now."


	3. April Fool's Day

_**April Fool's Day** by Medelia_

**Disclaimer:** If I owned it, I wouldn't need a line at the top beginning with "Disclaimer".

**Summary: **It's the middle of the first war. In one day, Molly Weasley lost two of the most important people in her life... but gained more than she ever expected.

* * *

Chapter Three: _April Fool's Day_

_April 1st_

"_Arthur, the baby's coming. Now."_

Arthur stared at his wife for a moment. "Are you sure?" he asked, face paling.

"Of course I'm sure," she snapped, her face tight with contraction pains.

"Right. Er… should I get the midwitch? Or-"

"Don't worry yet, it'll be hours yet," Molly soothed, her tone back to normal. "Just help me up to bed."

They were only halfway up the stairs when another contraction hit, and Arthur couldn't help but notice that even after the pain was gone, the tight, worried look on his wife's face didn't leave.

"Molly… are you sure you don't want me to get the midwitch? I mean…"

"Arthur!" she cried as she manoeuvred herself slowly into their bed.

He backed down quickly under his wife's stern gaze, and hurried back downstairs to get the tea she'd requested.

* * *

He was only downstairs for five minutes, but when he got back, carrying tea destined never to be drunk, Molly's face was pale and far tenser than it'd been before he left.

"Arthur, perhaps you should get the midwitch now," she said.

"But- I thought you said-"

"I have a feeling this is going to be a rather quick birth," she replied edgily.

He swallowed and, placing the untouched teacup on the mantel, grabbed a handful of Floo powder from the pot on the mantel and flung it into the fire in their bedroom, asking for her midwitch as he stuck his head into the flames.

He found the healer, a specialist in midwitchery, sitting in a chair by her own fireplace, reading a book.

"Healer Gadringer? I'm Molly Weasley's husband. She says she's having the baby, now."

She studied him as she placed her bookmark sedately – and far too slowly, in Arthur's opinion – in her book and stood up. "I'll be there in five," she said calmly, and walked away from the fire.

Arthur jerked his head backwards out of the flames, and turned to his wife.

"She says she'll be here in five minutes."

Molly's face relaxed.

"Do you want your tea?" he asked, seeing it on the mantel, but it was driven out of both their minds by a quiet knock on the door and a tentative, quivering, "Mummy?"

Molly gestured to her husband to go and see what the matter was. He slipped out the door, closing it behind him before Percy could see in.

"What's up, Percy?" Arthur asked, crouching down to his youngest son – though not for long, he reminded himself.

"I want Mummy," he whimpered, his eyes filling with tears. "I had a bad dream."

Arthur hugged the boy, and stood up, grasping Percy's small hand in his own, larger one.

"Mummy's gone to sleep. Come on, Perce, it was just a dream, let's get you back to bed."

"But I heard her talking," Percy said obstinately, hanging back as he followed his father down the hall to his bedroom.

"She's asleep now. Surely you don't want to wake her up," he said, helping the reluctant boy into bed and tucking him in.

Percy shook his head, but looked unsure.

"The bad men might come..."

"Oh, Perce," Arthur sat down next to his son, brushing his red fringe away from his eyes fondly. "There aren't any bad men here tonight," he promised, praying that Percy didn't hear the way his voice almost broke.

"Are you sure, Daddy?" Percy said sleepily, but he was already snuggling into the covers, nightmare forgotten. Arthur smiled faintly, dimmed the light and hurried back down the hall.

As he opened the door, he immediately noticed the midwitch in hushed, furious conversation with Molly.

"But… this should have showed up when I did the scans last month," Healer Gadringer was saying, looking almost offended that her spell had apparently failed.

"Is it possible that these things won't always show up?" Molly asked, and the tense, worried look still hadn't left her face.

"Yes," the midwife admitted reluctantly. "But the chance of it… miniscule. I've _heard_ of such things happening, but never experienced it… I'd always put it down to shoddy spell work on behalf of the Healer in charge…"

"Wh-What's happening?" Arthur croaked, his mouth dry.

"Mr Weasley… your wife is giving birth to twins," the healer said, still sounding irritated.

"Twins?" he repeated, breathing a sigh of relief. "Nothing life threatening?"

Nobody answered, but Molly smiled tightly through her contraction, and the midwitch raised her wand to perform yet another check.

"Definitely two in there. Molly, it's time to push."

* * *

"Have you thought of any names?" Molly whispered tiredly from where she sat on the bed, cradling two tiny baby boys in her arms. Healer Gadringer had just left, pronouncing them healthy, and a quiet, bittersweet mood had fallen over the bedroom where Molly and Arthur sat, gazing at their newborns.

"No," Arthur admitted. "You named the others easily, I hadn't given it a thought."

"I can't think now," Molly said desolately. "Not now."

Arthur moved to his wife's side, draping an arm around her shoulders.

"Moll, darling, it's going to be alright," he whispered into her ear, but she was crying again, sobs wracking her body, as she stared down at the babies in her arms.

Eventually the sobs subsided, and Molly turned a watery smile to her husband.

"Do you think it's just a coincidence," she asked softly. "Twins, I mean. Twin boys, born tonight… and Healer Gadringer was so sure she hadn't detected them before-"

"I don't think we can ever really know, Molly," he replied.

"No," she agreed, adjusting the babies slightly in her arms. "We really need to name them, soon," she said.

"I'd understand… if you wanted to…" Arthur said.

She was silent for a while. "No. No, it's too soon, I couldn't… Not entirely."

Arthur gave her a squeeze. "Whatever you want," he told her.

"G… George," she said suddenly. "And.. and Fred. George and Fred, Fred and George, do you think it fits?"

"Yes. Yes, I rather think it does," he smiled, taking the older boy – Fred, now – into his arms. The sleeping baby, he noticed, was all but indistinguishable from the slightly younger boy, still asleep in his mother's arms.

"They're going to be trouble, aren't they," Molly said, a wistful smile on her face as she followed Arthur's gaze from one to the other. "Gid- Gid and Fab were always swapping places, pretending to be each other, always making mischief…" she stopped to sniff back tears.

"Yes, I don't know how we're going to tell them apart," he said, stroking Fred's tiny cheek.

"Colour-coded clothes," Molly giggled softly, even though her eyes were still awash with tears.

Arthur looked up at the calendar, then his watch, and sucked in a breath.

"They'll definitely be trouble, Molly," he said, carefully handing her Fred back and getting up off the bed to check the documents Healer Gadringer had left behind. "Have you noticed their birthday?"

Molly looked at him, briefly confused, then smiled again.

"It's April Fool's Day, isn't it?"

And as Molly settled back down into her pillows in the early hours of the morning, her husband and new babies asleep beside her, her older children peaceful in their beds just a room or two away, she knew it'd all be alright in the end, because her older brothers must be up there somewhere, making mischief but looking out for her, like always, looking out for their family. The hands above the house of cards wouldn't falter, and somehow, everything would turn out all right in the end.

* * *

A/N: Thanks to everyone who read and/or reviewed this – both times round – it means a lot to me. This started as a random plot bunny, about a year ago. It's sad that it took me this long to write 3 short chapters, but I've got a lot of other, bigger plot bunnies in here as well, and not a lot of time. To all you Weasley fans – this has gotten me rather attached to Molly and Arthur, so expect something more about them, sometime in the future. Thanks again, love Medelia


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